Markets off record highs; IT, oil&gas shares see profit-taking

After rising to new peaks, markets today had a forgettable session with Sensex and Nifty slipping about 54 points and 21 points respectively on profit-taking in IT and oil&gas shares, while caution prevailed after Supreme Court reserved its order on coal blocks allocation matter.
Traders were also cautious ahead of the domestic data on consumer prices and industrial production due this week. Rupee was last trading lower at 60.6 against the US dollar.
Weakness in some of the heavyweight counters like ICICI Bank, Infosys, L&T, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and RIL mainly weighed on the benchmark indices. Gains in Cipla, Coal India, GAIL, Tata Motors, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Power cushioned the fall to some extent.

Overall market breadth, however, was positive on persistent buying by retail investors in second-tier stocks.
The BSE 30-share barometer, which resumed stable and later dropped by almost 143 points in late afternoon deals to a low of 27,177.09, settled at 27,265.32 -- a fall of 54.53 points or 0.20 per cent. Yesterday, it had flared up by 293.15 points, or 1.08 per cent, to hit new highs.
The wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE also fell back today by 20.95 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 8,152.95.

Selling was seen in Realty, IT, Oil&Gas and Capital Goods counters while consumer Durable, FMCG, Power, Pharma and Auto shares attracted good buying support.

"Today's performance was mainly due to profit taking by the participants, after yesterday's buoyant session. And they were keeping cautious bias also because of Supreme Court's upcoming decision on coal block allocations," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
In Asia, Japan and South Korea were closed for holiday. China closed almost stable. European stocks, however, were trading weak in trades. The CAC (France) was down by 0.12 per cent, the DAX (Germany) by 0.13 per cent and the FTSE (UK) by 0.18 per cent.
In oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose 48 cents to USD 93.14 while Brent crude for October was off 20 cents at USD 100.00.